Whole Wheat Brioche from Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day!

(picture from color insert of Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day, taken by Mark Luinenburg)

The brioche dough in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day was the very first recipe I developed after meeting Jeff and deciding to write the book together. It seemed a natural place to start considering my pastry chef roots and absolute love of this quintessential enriched bread. I had plenty of experience making it the traditional way after working in a restaurant with Andrew Zimmern. He put a fabulous sandwich on the lunch menu that was served on fresh brioche. I went to work early, got the butter to just the right temperature, made sure the room was also at the proper temperature and then set about on the long journey which is brioche dough. Too much work, although fabulous. Fast forward a decade and I meet Jeff, he introduces me to his method and I try melting the butter and just dumping it, along with all the other ingredients in a bucket and quickly stirring. Low and behold I have a luxurious brioche dough in a couple minutes of stirring. I was thrilled and only wished I’d figured this out when Andrew set that lunch menu all those years ago.

For Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day we still wanted to offer a variation of sweets and enriched breads, but they had to fit with our goal of healthier ingredients. This meant less white flour, less sweeteners, less fat and yet still delicious, tender and rich. It took some time to develop, but we came to just the right balance and now I use this dough for everything from a Tarte Tatin crust to my kids’ sandwiches.

But, in the final push of producing the book some numbers were switched around and it makes the recipe as written in the book unworkable–this only affects the very first printing in 2009. We are sad to see any mistakes in the book, and in particular one that will be such a staple to our readers. We apologize and below is the correct recipe.Whole Wheat Brioche (replace recipe on page 275)

Makes enough dough for at least two 2-pound loaves. The recipe is easily doubled or halved.

Egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water) for brushing on the top of loaf

The following are the basic instructions, for more details refer to the book.

1. Mixing and storing the dough: Whisk together the flour, yeast, salt, and vital wheat gluten in a 5-quart bowl, or a lidded (not airtight) Food Storage Containers.

2. Combine the liquid ingredients and mix the m with the dry ingredients without kneading , using a spoon, a 14-cup food processor or a heavy duty stand mixer with paddle.

3. The dough will be loose, but will firm up with chilled.

4. Cover (not airtight) and allow the dough to rest at room temperature until it rises and collapses, approximately 2 hours.

5. Refrigerate it for at least 2 hours before using. The dough can be stored and used over the next 5 days.

6. On baking day, grease a Non-Stick Brioche Mold or an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch nonstick loaf pan. Dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and cut off a 2-pound (cantaloupe-size) piece of dough (you can make a one-pounder as well). Dust the piece with more flour and quickly shape it into a ball. Place the ball into the prepared pan and allow to rest, loosely covered with plastic wrap, for about 1 hour 45 minutes. (dough should no longer feel cold and will have a bit of spring to it).

7. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, with a rack in the middle of the oven.

8. Just before baking, use a pastry brush to paint the loaf’s top with egg wash.

9. Bake the loaf near the center of the oven for about 40-45 minutes. For smaller or larger loaves you will need to adjust the resting and baking times– a one-pounder should need only about 35 to 40 minutes in the oven.

10. Remove the brioche from the pan (see page 50) and allow it to cool on a rack before slicing.

Enjoy!

In a future post I will recreate the tasty Cinnamon Crescent Rolls that are featured in the above picture. If you can’t wait that long you will find the recipe on page 294 of Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day.

My father took this picture of Jeff and me at our first book signing in Edina, MN. We would love to meet you, so please come visit us if we are coming to a book store near you. Check our book tour schedule here!

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Thanks, Jeff and Zoë

Okay, back from the kitchen…I made the dough, shaped it, and put it in little tins while it was still cold. I then stuck the tins in the fridge for 8 hours, thinking they would rise even in the cold environment and thus conform to my busy schedule. To my dismay, when I baked them straight from the refrigerator, they were not at all light and airy as some other posts have indicated. Was this because it was whole wheat, and there isn’t as much butter and eggs in this recipe as the regular brioche, or was this because I should have let the buns rise at room temp for an hour or so instead of the refrigerator? The rolls weren’t bad, they just weren’t overly wonderful either. I’d love any insight, thanks!

Lina: I think you’ll be happier if you rest it for at least a half hour, despite the overnight fridge rise. It’s possible that this approach just won’t be to your liking with whole grain loaves. I’m assuming you were using 100% whole grain dough; this would be less of a problem if you went, let’s say, even 50/50. Jeff

I made this dough a couple of days ago. Smelled good, looked good. This morning I followed the directions for the crescents but my dough would not come off of the parchment paper I rolled it out on. So, I scraped it up and put it in a parchment lined loaf pan, thinking it would be kind of like monkey bread. It looked good, and the two ends tasted good but the inside didn’t cook through. I typically have this problem with loaves, while rolls, etc are perfect. Any suggestions? How do you know loaf bread is “done”?

If you are rolling the dough out on parchment paper you need to still use enough flour to prevent it from sticking. After rolling out the dough and baking in a loaf pan you will need to allow the dough to rest for about 90+ minutes or it will be dense, after handling it so much. Breads baked in a loaf pan also need to be baked for a longer time at a lower temperature.

Hi! Sorry – didn’t have time to read all the questions, so I hope this hasn’t already been asked. I made the HBin5 Cinnamon Crescent rolls with the master recipe and thought they were very good, but my picky, picky son (8yo) didn’t like them. I wanted to make them with a softer dough, and thought that the soft whole wheat sandwhich dough would be good to try, but it’s not listed as one that would work. Is there a reason, or do you think that would work? I didn’t check first, and now have a tub of it in the fridge, half of which was destined for the cinnamon rolls . . . I can use it otherwise, but wanted your thoughts on using it for these rolls.

Thanks, Zoe! I’m not sure it will satisfy his desire, either, but it’s worth a shot. At any rate, I, my daughter and my husband will like them! And I can always try something else down the line, too!! :0)

Thanks to both of you for posting this recipe (and the corrections). I became addicted to brioche that my local Trader Joe’s used to carry (haven’t seen it there in months) and have wanted to make a healthier version of it. I made your recipe and it tasted FANTASTIC!! However, the texture was quite different than what I was used to – my brioche came out very similar to whole wheat bread and the TJ’s product is very, very light and flaky.

Is it the healthier ingredients that make your brioche less flaky or did I do something “wrong”?

Part of the issue is that whole wheat will never allow the same texture of the crumb that you can get with all white flour. In this recipe, to make it healthier, we also cut back on the amount of butter in the recipe. All of these things make a healthy version of brioche, but they can’t compare entirely to the real thing. Maybe cut loose and have the brioche from our first book on occasion!

Great book…I got the ebook on Kindle for HBin5 and the error for the whole wheat brioche is in it. So I have to throw it out and start over I was wondering about the gluten and the dough was super firm instead of loose as you described. Thanks!

There will be no difference in the recipe, unless you have a book from the very first printing. Chances are that yours is a newer version if you just ordered it. Here are the errors from that first printing: http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/errors

I couldn’t figure out where to ask this question or find a similar one, so I hope it’s okay to ask it here.

Sometimes when making dough – especially whole wheat – the next day the dough is too dry. When I pull it out, it doesn’t stretch and need to be cut apart, it just comes apart. When I stretch and turn the ball, it tears and/or the surface does not get smooth, it kind of pulls apart in layers. Can I add more liquid? Help!
Thanks!

Which recipe are you using (which book, page number)?
Using fresh-ground flour? Try commercial WW first and see if it resolves.
Any other changes in the recipe? Are you using vital wheat gluten in WW recipes that call for it?

Hi, Love the brioche recipe (p. 275) in HB5 and used it to make the Apple Strudel Bread (2 loaves with leftover dough used for two plain mini loaves) which are out of site!
The WHITE whole wheat flour was a revelation–I had never heard of such a thing. It is equally nutritious as regular whole wheat and MUCh more so than Unbleached White. I read that you can substitute them pretty equally, but not in the case of Unbleached White which says you can use 1/3-1/2 of White whole wheat in place of Unbleached white. I don’t like using unbleached white, so will try that.
Mostly I make the basic recipe whole wheat recipe with Olive oil (p. 81) since I think the addition of the oil makes it moister when using it as a sandwich bread (I put it into one of those long pullman loaf pans). Which leads me to a question–Can I reduce the honey in the brioche recipe by half without negative results? Do I need to increase water perhaps? Just don’t like my bread that sweet.
Thanks for your great books. Everyone I bake for loves the bread. A new passion.

?? order from amazon, ??? if there’s an equivalent in Hong Kong; in U.S. it’s on Amazon. If you drop it, lower the water. But it won’t store as well. Will be an experiment, don’t have parameters for you.

I tried the recipe, and the dough turns out to be very liquid and gluey. Does not stand or take shape. But it tastes well!

These are the deviations in recipe I’ve used:
1) Peanut Cooking Oil instead of Butter.
2) 1/4 cup water less already
3) Coz my eggs are small, so I used 6 instead of 5.
4) The all-purpose white flour I bought was presifted.

Would you say it’s the lack of butter that’s making this happen? Or something else?

Go back to 5 eggs, probably too much liquid. No problem with “pre-sifted,” all flours are. Also, oil yields a looser dough than butter, so you’d have to decrease water a little more (not sure how much). This’ll make a great cinnamon roll.

Some people prefer the aroma of low-yeast versions, so see http://tinyurl.com/yate3j6. If you try a low-yeast, long-rise approach with egg-based dough, be sure to follow the instructions in that link regarding the 2-hour limit for eggs at room temperature, completing the long rise in the refrigerator.

Alternative: you may also be able to decrease aromas of alcohol or yeast by being sure you’re venting the container so gasses don’t accumulate.

Hi,
I just found this website, after mixing up brioche dough from my recipe that was written wrong. I thought it seemed too dry! Is there anything I can do with the dough rather than throw it out? Like biscuit type things or fry bread?
Thanks

Hi Zoë and Jeff, this is one of my fave dough recipes of all time, right behind your WW olive oil pizza dough. My Belgian family and neighbors raised on high quality white flour brioche absolutely rave about this recipe, which I make in a silicone brioche muffin-size tray. It is heavenly as is, but it’s undeniably good in pecan rolls too. My copy of your books are in an unknown box in the attic since we just moved, but thanks to this page I’m stirring up a batch for my the visit of my stateside family and friends this week. I was so worried that I couldn’t make it for them. Cheers!!!!!

I don’t have any white whole wheat flour but I do have stone ground wheat flour. Would I need to adjust anything in the recipe? Love your books, BTW. the bottom shelf of the fridge has been given over to buckets of dough! Thanks.